Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

Determined to knock off a few books from my own TBR shelves, I picked up Journey to the Centre of the Earth the other day. I'd just finished Armadale, after a month-long read, and just couldn't bear committing to another dense Victorian. Specifically, I picked this one up because it had an introduction by the late Diana Wynne Jones -- which is why I probably purchased it in the first place. It's one of the charming Puffin Classics editions packaged for children. (Ithink it was a buy one, get one special at Barnes & Noble.)

So, if you were wondering about the plot, it is exactly as the title states. After finding an ancient code tucked in an old book, Young Axel and his eccentric scientist uncle, Otto Liedenbrock, leave their comfortable home in Hamburg and attempt to explore the center of the world, via a volcano in Iceland. Axel nervously agrees to the crazy scheme, believing there's no way they will actually get that far.

But clearly, they do, and make astonishing discoveries along the way, with the help of an Icelandic guide named Hans. The first quarter of the book are pretty standard let's-go-on-a-trip with all the preparations, sea voyage, and encounters with a different culture. But eventually, they make their descent through an dormant volcano, Sneffels, (better known in Iceland as Snaeffelsjokull).

The actual Snaeffelsjokull in Iceland.

Things get pretty interesting after they descend into the a series of underground caverns, with dangers and discoveries and miraculous escapes (of course). Suffice to say it's all slightly ridiculous to the modern reader, but for its time, it must have been pretty fantastic. I'm not sure how this version compares to others (this one was translated in 1965 by Robert Baldick) but it was a quick, easy read. I do know that a lot of the translations in English made a lot of abridgments -- one audio version actually changes the names of the characters completely! But I mostly liked it, though in retrospect, the characters weren't very practical about planning and packing for the journey, and there's one part that's sort of racist which I found a little annoying. There's also a lot of geology and such that I will admit I mostly skimmed.

A couple of years ago I tried listening to an audiobook of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but I eventually gave up on it -- after awhile I got bored and I remember it just seemed like a lot of lists of undersea flora and fauna. I did get a bit of that in Journey to the Centre of the Earth as well -- I know Verne did a lot of research and I can only guess that he wanted to pack everything in.  I'm afraid I did tend to skim over a lot of the scientific details of this book, especially the parts about calculating depth and suchlike. However, it has inspired me to consider visiting the Natural Bridge Caverns, which are just a short drive away.

Underground lake in Natural Bridge Caverns.

I had originally intended to count this as my Classic Science Fiction choice for the Back to the Classics Challenge, but I don't know that I'd necessarily call it sci-fi -- though one could call it that because of the speculative nature of their discoveries, I'm really more inclined to count it as my Adventure Classic -- really, most of the book is taken up with exploration and discoveries (though if someone else wants to count this as their Science Fiction Classic, that's fine with me).

Celebrating Diana Wynne Jones

In honor of the second annual DWJ March, I've written a guest post for Kristen at We Be Reading.  She's posed the question:  What makes Diana Wynne Jones magical?

Well, I don't know about everyone else, but the first thing I thought of was how Diana Wynne Jones is one of the brilliant children's authors whose works really stand the test of time.  To me, she's just as good as J.K. Rowling.  I read my first DWJ book, Dogsbody, years ago when I was in middle school.  I probably picked it up because there was a dog on the cover, and even though I didn't get some of the British slang and references until years later, the story completely transported me.  If you haven't read it, it's one of her first works, and a fantastic book.

Anyway, in Dogsbody, Sirius, the Dog Star, is not just a star, he's a sort of a celestial body personified.  The story begins with Sirius on trial for murder by his peers, and he's sentenced to live a dog's life -- literally -- on Earth, unless he can find a mysterious object called the Zoi.  Otherwise, he'll spend the rest of his natural life as a dog, and die here.

Sirius is reborn as a puppy, and is rescued from drowning and found by a lonely girl, Kathleen.  Kathleen is Irish and is living an almost Cinderella-like existence with some horrible cousins in England, while her father is serving a prison sentence for his involvement with the IRA.  Sirius is renamed Leo and is Kathleen's salvation, and as he grows, he becomes protective and attached to her as he searches for the Zoi.  He becomes torn between his love for Kathleen and his desire to find the Zoi and return to his life as a celestial being.

DWJ is just brilliant at bringing characters to life.  Kathleen is a sad orphan, but not sickly sweet, and the relatives who've taken her in are pretty horrible, rather like the Dursleys in the Harry Potter series.  (Imagine, however, if the main character in Harry Potter never leaves Privet Drive, but is stuck there with a magic dog instead of escaping to the wizarding world of Hogwarts.)

I have an autographed copy of this edition!!  Really!!!

It's a great story and I read it over and over as a child.  I never could find any more books by Diana Wynne Jones -- back then we didn't have inter-library loan, and the bookstores in my town were pretty lame.  I essentially forgot all about Diana Wynne Jones until 2005, when I spotted a copy of Howl's Moving Castle at a bookstore in a Japanese train station when we were stationed there -- I think it was in Kyoto.  Every Japanese train station has a bookstore, but the supply of English-language books is pretty limited.  I'm sure it was only available because the movie version had just been released, though I never got to see it on the big screen.

Anyway, since then I've read lots more Diana Wynne Jones books, and I've reread Dogsbody several times --it's just as good thirty years later!  I'm pleased to see there's a new paperback edition with a brilliant introduction by Neil Gaiman.  It's worth buying just for Gaiman's intro, which is very touching and got me all choked up.  

I'm still trying to finish the complete works of Diana Wynne Jones, but one of the nicest things is that I share her books with my own children.  My youngest is almost twelve and loves Howl, which just thrills me to bits.  To me, any author that you can pass down to a new generation is the definition of magical.

This is cross-posted on Kristin's blog, We Be Reading.

Stories: All New Tales Edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio

I put this book on hold from the library since included a new story by Neil Gaiman, one my favorite authors.  I was surprised and delighted to find that my favorite stories in this collection were by other authors, some of whom I'd never read before.  For example, I probably never would have read anything by horror author Joe Hill (son of Stephen King) but his story, "The Devil on the Staircase," is one that I won't forget.  After committing a crime of passion, a poor Italian laborer rushes down mysterious stone steps into what he believes is Hell, with devastating long-term results.

I expected this collection to be filled with stories of the supernatural, fantasy, and science fiction, but some of them were mystery and suspense.  I recognized quite a few of the authors, and some of them surprised me -- Jodi Picoult, who isn't really known for fantasy/supernatural; Joanne Harris, best known for Chocolat; Joyce Carol Oates; Richard Adams (of Watership Down fame).

My least favorite was probably "Catch and Release" by Lawrence Block, which gets into the mind of a serial killer.  Normally I like his stories, but this one was just a little too realistic, so much so that I can't forget it and wish I hadn't read it.  Block has a similar story in an older collection called Some Days You Get the Bear -- I read it more than ten years ago and I still can't forget it, and not in a good way.  Still makes me shudder to think about it.

But anyhow, I should focus on the best stories.  My favorite has to be by Diana Wynne Jones (I didn't even know she was in the collection until I saw it in the book, so that was a lovely surprise!); it's called "Samantha's Diary," about a woman who starts receiving gifts from a stranger -- all the gifts from The Twelve Days of Christmas.  Every day -- it begins with the partridge in the tree, then the doves, the hens, and all the rest.  It's driving her crazy and all the birds are making a horrible mess.  I thought it was hilarious.  Even if I wasn't an enormous fan of her work, I think I still would have liked this one best.

Of course the collection includes a vampire story.  After Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse, I'm a little tired of vampires, but "Juvenal Nyx" by Walter Mosely was really good, one of the best vampire stories I've ever read.  I'd never read Mosely though I've seen the movie version of Devil in a Blue Dress.  Next time I'm in the mood for a mystery I will definitely look for one of his books.

Overall, this was a really interesting mix of stories, authors, and styles.  They seem really disparate, but the collection really works because of the quality of the writing.  It really sucked me in and I was compelled to finish all of them, so that's saying something.

The Lives of Christopher Chant and The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones

When Jenny announced she was hosting a Diana Wynne Jones week, I was so excited!  I've loved DWJ since I was a child.  Unfortunately, after I discovered one of her earliest books, Dogsbody, it was years before I found another -- my school library didn't get any of her other books, and neither did the public library.  And of course this was before Amazon and library online catalogs.  I didn't even know about ILL back then.  I didn't rediscover her works until I saw one by chance about five years ago, Howl's Moving Castle, another of my favorites.

In the past few weeks, I've been so inspired by all the postings and reviews of her other books I've read six of her books -- two standalone books, plus four from the Chrestomanci series, of which there are now seven books: six novels, plus a book of short stories.  In the interest of time, I'm going to write about two of the Chrestomanci books I've read recently:  The Lives of Christopher Chant and The Magicians of Caprona. 

The Chrestomanci books don't need to be read in order like many other series; they're not so much a linear narrative, more like  interrelated novels.  In the Chrestomanci books, our world is one of a number of parallel worlds that have split off from one another and coexist; occasionally, there are people that can travel from one world to another.  In most of these worlds, magic exists and is quite common.  Chrestomanci appears in all of the books and stories, but it isn't a person's name, it's a title -- the Chrestomanci is the most powerful magician of his time, and so he's sort of like the Minister of Magic.   Different books might have a different Chrestomanci, or even two, the current Chrestomanci and a future one.

The first book I read this summer was The Lives of Christopher Chant.  It's set in a parallel version of Edwardian England, and Christopher's parents and uncle all have magical powers.  As a young boy, he also has strong magical powers, but not everyone is aware of them.  He can control his own dreams, and while he's dreaming, he can move from one parallel world to another.  He also has multiple lives.  Christopher also realizes he can carry objects from one world to another.  When his family finally realize how powerful he is, he's sent to train with Chrestomanci.  Things get complicated when people begin to try and use Christopher's powers for personal gain.

Of the four books that I read, this was my favorite.  Christopher is a well-developed character.  He's flawed, but that makes him more endearing.   He wants to be a normal boy, yet he wants to impress his parents and make them love him.  He also wants to please his uncle, who is the first one to recognize his magical talents.  If you've read Charmed Life, the first Chrestomanci book DWJ wrote, this is the back story of the adult Chrestomanci featured in that story.  This was the second in the series that I read, but you could probably read it any order, though I'd recommend it first or second.

The second book I read was The Magicians of Caprona.  Unlike the other DWJ books, this one is set in Italy.  Again, it's a parallel world, though similar to ours, in which magic is normal.  It's about two magical families in the city-state of Caprona, the Montanas and the Petrocchis, and they're sort of like the Capulets and the Montagues, hating each other for years over something trivial that has grown out of proportion.  The main character is Tonino, a little boy in the Montana family.  Like Christopher Chant, he's having a hard time with his magical talents.  His family is famous for creating spells, but Tonino seems hopeless.  However, his magical powers come to light when an evil enchanter is trying to steal the magic from Caprona while they're under threat of war.  The rivalry between the Montanas and Petrocchis comes to a head as the enchanter must be stopped.

I had a harder time getting into this book, but once I did I really enjoyed it.  It was interesting to see DWJ write about in a setting outside of England (or magical versions of England, I suppose).  Chrestomanci does make an appearance, tying this book in with the rest of the series.  I especially liked the way DWJ worked him into the story in a way I didn't expect.  This was the second book written for the series, but I think you could read it in any order.

While I was on vacation recently, I also read Witch Week and Mixed Magics, which is a collection of four stories with Chrestomanci and includes some of the other characters in the series.  I also have Conrad's Fate checked out from the library, and hope to start it soon.  I'm really enjoying the Chrestomanci series.  If you are a fan of DWJ you'll probably love it.  I think it's a good choice for anyone who enjoys Harry Potter or other children's fantasy as well.